Around and around

On packaging lines buzzing with movement, transporting the product through to the end safely can be quite a chore. To eliminate the need to rotate the product, the LW-300 Rotary Arm Stretch Wrapper from Premier Tech Systems (premiertechsystems.com) offers an overhead rotary arm. The fully automatic system applies mechanically pre-stretched film with tension to the pallet load. Because the load never has to rotate, the machine is particularly equipped for high-speed wrapping of heavy or unstable loads. The LW-300’s four built-in wrapping modes enable the selection of the fastest method to unitize the load. The machine can achieve up to 95 loads per hour. In addition to efficiency, the LW Series Stretch Wrapper can integrate a top sheet dispenser. This allows automatic application of film to the top of the load for water resistance.

Time to unwind

The Unwind System will have packaging companies relaxing in no time. Lachenmeier‘s (lachenmeier.com), unique system gathers the film at the corners and unwinds it as the film is placed over the load. This process virtually eliminates thin and fragile film on load corners – a feature that is especially important for loads with sharp edges. The Unwind System keeps film corners roughly 30% thicker than other stretch hood systems while allowing packagers to incorporate lighter films without compromising integrity.

“The Unwind System comes standard on all our stretch hood machines,” says Michael Hansen, business unit manager, Lachenmeier North America. “This is a small example of the detail and care we put into our machines to ensure customers achieve optimal load containment.”

It takes two

Just as two heads are better than one, two jobs are better when done at one time. ARPAC (arpac.com) offers the Semi-Automatic Pro Series LP Wrap-N-Weigh. As the name suggests, the Pro Series LP Wrap-N-Weigh combines wrapping and weighing into one operation with an integrated precision scale and digital controls. By combining operations, the machine saves on machinery costs, labor expenses and time. The heavy duty pallet stretch wrapper has a 4,000-pound capacity and comes from a larger line of Wrap-N-Weigh machines available to suit a wide variety of packaging lines.

Bag it up

BEUMER (beumergroup.com) offers a complete packaging system for bags. The fillpac rotary packer can handle 300 to 6,000 bags per hour and is able to process all types of bags. To work with the fillpac, BEUMER offers the robotpac, which includes a space-saving articulated arm robot which can carry out even complex palletizing and depalletizing tasks reliably and efficiently. Able to stack various containers such as bags, cartons, boxes, canisters and trays safely and economically, the robotpac features a flexibly exchangeable gripper system for every packaged product. Additionally, the BEUMER paletpac range provides a high-performance layer palletizer for bags. The paletpac offers geometrical accuracy and stability for problem-free storage and safe transportation to the downstream BEUMER stretch hood packaging system.

Soft and gentle

When one hears about science-fiction tropes like the robot uprising, it portrays the machines as anything but gentle. However, Intelligrated (intelligrated.com) now offers two new hybrid palletizers that gently handle product, especially important for applications with reduced primary or secondary packaging. The Alvey 950F and Alvey 750 Series hybrid palletizers integrate robotic arms for flexible and accurate handling.These machines can handle single-SKU and mixed-SKU pallets and meet retail-ready requirements such as labels-out configurations. The Alvey 750 series works well with small products such as consumer packaged goods. It delivers throughput speeds up to 50 cases per minute. The Alvey 950F is the floor-level model of the Alvey 950 series high-speed in-line hybrid palletizer. It works much like the standard model but with floor-level infeed for increased speed and streamlined operations.

Fits right in

Easy integration, flexibility and speed pack together in the PL-FRB Pick and Place Fanuc Robotic Palletizer, which combines AFA’s (afasystemsinc.com) extensive knowledge and custom engineered solutions with Fanuc’s robotic technology. The flexible palletizer seamlessly integrates with upstream equipment such as case packers, fillers, tray packers and so on to make it easy to fit into any packaging line. The PL-FRB accepts product from an infeed conveyor and will automatically pick the product and place it onto an empty pallet, which is stated on a roller conveyor for easy discharge once the pallet pack pattern is complete. In addition to fitting into a variety of line configurations, the PL-FRB also has the flexibility to be fitted with varied end effectors, which allow it to handle bags, bundles, trays, bales and more. Users can store palletizing pack pattern recipes on the HMI to maximize uptime and allow for quick changeover.